From the spyglass telescope invented by Galileo to the Hubble Space telescope of NASA, we have come a long way in exploring and discovering the secrets in space. Among those world famous telescopes, one huge telescope, which played an active role behind the discovery of some key secrets of space, collapsed recently. We are talking about the world famous Arecibo Observatory telescope in Puerto Rico, in Caribbean island, which for the last 57 years has given innumerable contributions to the field of astronomy.. On December 1, 2020 the telescope’s receiver weighing 900 tons fell over to the radio dish which stands below the telescope. It was a known fact that the telescope was in bad condition. The US National Science Foundation which owns the telescope had also conveyed that the plans were progressing to dismantle it in phases. But before that it met with its fate. This observatory is also known as
National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC).

The Arecibo telescope was the observatory’s main instrument. The telescope consisted of a radio dish which was 1000 ft wide or 305 meters in length. Also, there was an instrument platform hanging above 450 ft. This platform was suspended by cables connected to the three towers. In August, two of the three cables had broken. This damaged the structure and a decision was taken to close down the observatory. A review was done on the situation in November in which it was found that the telescope was at risk of disastrous collapse. So it was finally decided to dismantle it safely.

Till 2016, Arecibo telescope was known as the world’s largest single-aperture telescope. In 2016, China surpassed this record by building a 500 meter Aperture Spherical Telescope. Since its inception in 1960, it has contributed greatly to many astronomical discoveries. In 1992, it discovered a planet outside the solar system which is known as an exoplanet. It also produced the first radar maps of the surface of Venus. Also, the e observatory provided the first solid evidence regarding neutron stars. Neutron stars are very dense, compact stars which are believed to be composed primarily of neutrons. Though it was built with the purpose of conducting studies on the ionized upper part of the Earth’s atmosphere which is known as an ionosphere, soon it became an all-purpose radio
observatory.

The Arecibo telescope also appeared in movies. Once it was featured in an action scene in the famous James Bond movie `Golden Eye’ in 1995 and secondly, in the science fiction drama `Contact’ in 1997.